Yes, it is in fact both a lighter and an mp3 player. With only 1GB of space, you’ll probably only have enough music on it to cover your cigarette break, but if your cigarettes are an mp3 player too, you’re in better shape.

Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em! Or not, if they’re not real.

What it does

iPhoneAtlas is a guide to everything related to the iPhone. The blog dishes out the latest news, gives you tips on how to troubleshoot, and points out cool new apps you can add to your ultra stylish Mac mobile. There are five main sections: troubleshooting, dev, how-tos, apps and news. Today’s headlines tout iPhone’s arrival to African markets, SoulSeek’s P2P client for the iPhone, and Singapore Airline’s offering of inflight connectivity. Users can leave comments and feedback via email. Under the how-to section you’ll find both official and unofficial guides detailing apps and instructions on jailbreaking the phone. Recent posts can be found on the side, while an RSS feed will keep you up to date on the latest and greatest.

In their own words

“A resource for Apple’s iPhone, containing guides to usage, troubleshooting information, pertinent news and more.”

Why it might be a killer

This Cnet site is a one stop destination for all things iPhone. The site contains lots of useful news, stories and how-tos. You really needn’t look any further than iPhoneAtlas. It’s all there.

Some questions

Will the site become more user interactive? It could use more input from readers and perhaps even editorial content. The design also could use some work.

Updates


 » original news

Last year we pointed to a report where a law professor tallied up how much he "infringed" on copyright in a regular day, coming out with a multi-million dollar total. Now Tom writes in to alert us to an article by Chris Soghoian questioning whether or not watching an infringing video on YouTube counts as infringement as well. The summary is that it's hardly a clearcut issue -- which should be seen as a problem. A copyright holder could conceivably make an argument that it's infringement, though it's not clear that it would hold up in court (and the backlash against anyone stupid enough to make such an argument would be overwhelming). What this really highlights, though, is how poorly our copyright laws are structured for the internet age, where anyone can create, distribute and consume tons and tons of content (all covered by copyright, thanks to Congress granting automatic copyrights).

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What it does

IHeartGardening is a gardening community set up by Patrick Hempton, a plant lover extraordinaire. Within the site, users can set up their own blogs, consult and contribute to the plant database and discuss the trials and delights of growing plants. The database contains over 100,000 entries; members can upload photos and descriptions to add to it. A gardening library beginning with the basics of gardening is in the making; writers for adding how-to and advice articles as well as gardening stories are currently being sought. IHeartGardening also features a gardens section which features gardens from around the world; it has yet to be filled, however.

In their own words

“Our plant database has 107,682 shrubs, trees, fruits, vegetables, herbs, weeds, ferns, houseplants and more! Search to find a plant by Common or Scientific name.”

Why it might be a killer

IHeartGardening is a small but well thought out site. The garden database is perfect for beginner and even more advanced gardeners who are looking to identify plants and flowers. The site has a close knit communal feel which users will no doubt appreciate. It’s also very easy to use.

Some questions

Will the site add more information about the plants in the database, for example climatic and watering facts? Is the database going to be organized by category? How will the site attract more users?

Updates


 » original news

A

When Data Portability was first announced, it sounded like it would solve what had become one of the biggest problems in the social networking space: a seemingly endless array of new services, each of which required you to setup and maintain your own profile, friend’s list, photo albums, etc. With the support of just about every key player in the industry, Data Portability offered the promise of “being able to access [your] friends and media across all the applications, social networking sites and widgets that implement the design into their systems …” Problem solved, right?

Not quite. At first, it seemed like Data Portability was a lot of hot air, with everyone scrambling to put out a press release and associate themselves with “the open Web,” but offering little in the way of specific plans. But then last week, MySpace announced Data Availability. Finally, there was a real implementation of Data Portability on the horizon, that out of the gates promised us integration with Yahoo, eBay, Photobucket, and Twitter. But then, Facebook announced Facebook Connect. And then, Google announced Friend Connect. Facebook then decided it didn’t like Friend Connect and blocked it. So much for that idea. There’s a word to describe this, and that word begins with cluster and rhymes with duck.

The thing is, as we move to an environment where one profile essentially controls them all, all of the corporate interests want to be THAT profile, and for good reason. If I can make updates to MySpace and keep up with my friends that use it from Facebook, why would I ever login to MySpace if Facebook is my preferred network? In that scenario, MySpace loses page views and revenue, and gains what? Positive PR from a bunch of tech bloggers who push for open standards? Rupert says “No Thank You!”

So, What Are Consumers Left With?

For consumers, there will be marginal benefits from having at least 3 (and probably many more) big players in the social space offering portable profile data. The thing is, similar to what we saw on the application side of things, where developers needed to consider apps for Facebook, OpenSocial, Bebo, etc, developers will now need to consider which social networks they allow users to port data over from. So, if Twitter implements only MySpace Data Availability, but not Facebook Connect, new Twitter users will be out of luck. Of course, they can still do things the old fashioned way and just, you know, create an account.

So, What Does a Developer Choose?

Much like with the social networking application race, if you have the resources, you should support every big social network that wants to let you port over their profile data. Your competitors will, and if you don’t, you’ll be left behind in terms of gaining users and seeding your community with valuable data. However, if you don’t have the luxury of building to support every protocol under the sun, your best bet is to go with the one which has the demographics most similar to those you are targeting. Building a new flash widget company? Support MySpace. Building a new site for study abroad students? Support Facebook. You get the idea.

What About The Google?

Although Google might not be a huge player with any one social networking destination site (minus Orkut’s supposed popularity in Brazil and India), they have a huge advantage over everyone else (except maybe Yahoo): accounts. Between Gmail, Google Docs, Google Reader, Google Apps, YouTube, and so on, it won’t be long before just about everyone that’s anyone on the Web has a Google account, either by choice or as required (by an employer).

While you may not implicitly think of Google as a social network, the company has been aggressive (some might even dare say “evil”) with building your contact list behind the scenes, the most obvious example being the way contacts are added to your Gtalk and in turn Google Reader. The company is many magnitudes more mainstream than Facebook, MySpace, or any other social network could ever hope to be, and hence, as Friend Connect spreads its tentacles (and they will be spreading … 19,000 employees need *something* to do all day), it’s not inconceivable at all to think that the company could in the not-so-distant future be the one that owns your universal profile. After all, who do you think Middle America is more apt to trust? The company consistently voted one of the world’s most respected brands (Google), Rupert Murdoch, or a mysterious company run by mostly twenty-somethings?

So What?

Complicated? Yes, but only to those of us who eat, sleep, and breathe this stuff. The bottom line is we’re not moving towards openness at all, but we are moving towards a more manageable online social presence. The Internet behemoths will slug it out over who we use to manage it, but at the end of the day, there will be plenty of consumer choice and the free market will win – always a good thing in my book.

mashable109:http://mashable.com/2008/05/16/data-portability-future/

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Related Articles at Mashable! - The Social Networking Blog:

Microsoft Makes Windows Live Contact Info Portable
Data Portability is Boring
MySpace Announces “Data Availability” with Yahoo, eBay, Twitter
Flixster Calls Down $5M of its Series B
Podcast: A Conversation with DataPortability’s Chris Saad
Zude’s Platform Supports Portability Between Facebook and OpenSocial
LinkedIn Joins the DataPortability Workgroup

The eagerly awaited next installation in the Prince of Persia franchise has been given a name. Prince of Persia: Heir Apparent got a spread in Game Informer and this enterprising fellow has scanned the article. It’s in French, but hey.

Judging from the scanty screenshots provided, the graphics have a new cel-shaded look which may or may not go well, and the character design looks a little more like Sword of the New World than anything else. Last time they made a departure (Warrior Within) it was kind of weak, so let’s hope the new game has the chops to go along with the new style.
[via Kotaku]

Sprint’s finally giving the thumbs up to its Xohm service, currently being tested in the DC area. Xohm is Sprint’s deployment of WiMAX, and it has spent millions getting it ready as a 4G network to replace the current 3G system.

WiMAX is widely regarded as the successor to current generation cellular service, and Sprint’s the first one out of the gate with implementation. Look for devices to start appearing this summer as it starts turning on the service in markets across the country.

The T-Mobile Sidekick Slide, my last one, has gotten itself a nice little body mod and is now available in scarlet red for $199 from T-Mobile. Hopefully this one doesn’t have that pesky rebooting issue.